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11/08/2007 05:45:29 PM · #1 |
Robert Adams, on Beauty in Photography:
"Why do most great pictures look uncontrived? Why do photographers bother with the deception, especially since it so often requires the hardest work of all? The answer is, I think, that the deception is necessary if the goal of art is to be reached: only pictures that look as if they had been easily made can convincingly suggest that Beauty is commonplace." |
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11/08/2007 05:49:10 PM · #2 |
| quite simple, if you ask me. lets say you want to portray a certain emotion or feeling. what are you going to do? stand somewhere with a camera and wait for it to happen or get a willing model and reenact it? look at the extreme emotion challenge,my entry (shameless plug) HAD to be contrived. I had been in the situation of downing a bottle of rum straight but that was many years ago, i think its just necessity. |
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11/08/2007 05:52:08 PM · #3 |
Originally posted by smardaz:
quite simple, if you ask me. lets say you want to portray a certain emotion or feeling. what are you going to do? stand somewhere with a camera and wait for it to happen or get a willing model and reenact it? look at the extreme emotion challenge,my entry (shameless plug) HAD to be contrived. I had been in the situation of downing a bottle of rum straight but that was many years ago, i think its just necessity. |
I suspect you misread the quote. Just a hunch. |
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11/08/2007 05:57:57 PM · #4 |
| He, he, so it's make it look like it wasn't work to make. Cool. I think he's on to something. |
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11/08/2007 06:17:38 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by Gordon:
Originally posted by smardaz:
quite simple, if you ask me. lets say you want to portray a certain emotion or feeling. what are you going to do? stand somewhere with a camera and wait for it to happen or get a willing model and reenact it? look at the extreme emotion challenge,my entry (shameless plug) HAD to be contrived. I had been in the situation of downing a bottle of rum straight but that was many years ago, i think its just necessity. |
I suspect you misread the quote. Just a hunch. |
not really, he asks the question "why bother with deception?" i think thats why... |
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11/08/2007 06:23:15 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by smardaz:
Originally posted by Gordon:
Originally posted by smardaz:
quite simple, if you ask me. lets say you want to portray a certain emotion or feeling. what are you going to do? stand somewhere with a camera and wait for it to happen or get a willing model and reenact it? look at the extreme emotion challenge,my entry (shameless plug) HAD to be contrived. I had been in the situation of downing a bottle of rum straight but that was many years ago, i think its just necessity. |
I suspect you misread the quote. Just a hunch. |
not really, he asks the question "why bother with deception?" i think thats why... |
I'd re-read and reconsider, just in case. |
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11/08/2007 07:20:04 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by zeuszen:
Originally posted by smardaz:
Originally posted by Gordon:
Originally posted by smardaz:
quite simple, if you ask me. lets say you want to portray a certain emotion or feeling. what are you going to do? stand somewhere with a camera and wait for it to happen or get a willing model and reenact it? look at the extreme emotion challenge,my entry (shameless plug) HAD to be contrived. I had been in the situation of downing a bottle of rum straight but that was many years ago, i think its just necessity. |
I suspect you misread the quote. Just a hunch. |
not really, he asks the question "why bother with deception?" i think thats why... |
I'd re-read and reconsider, just in case. |
ok so my humble apologies to all...apparently i am not deep enough to feel that i read the quote and put in my 2 cents worth, i gladly give you a refund |
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11/08/2007 07:27:37 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by smardaz:
Originally posted by gordon:
Originally posted by smardaz:
Originally posted by gordon:
I suspect you misread the quote. Just a hunch. |
not really, he asks the question "why bother with deception?" i think thats why... |
I'd re-read and reconsider, just in case. |
ok so my humble apologies to all...apparently i am not deep enough to feel that i read the quote and put in my 2 cents worth, i gladly give you a refund |
I think you just took from it something slightly left of the main point. The point being raised was not so much why are they contrived, but rather why do the good ones avoid looking contrived.
Message edited by author 2007-11-08 19:29:07. |
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11/08/2007 07:34:03 PM · #9 |
| well thanks, finally someone told me WHY I didnt get instead of just saying that i didnt. |
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11/08/2007 07:36:34 PM · #10 |
Smardaz, I think their point was simply that your post seems not to respond to what the author was discussing. I think he was asking, and then answered, the question "why put in the effort to take pictures that look uncontrived" as opposed to literally "why deceive instead of take pictures of reality?" In fact, I think the passage is poorly written and would be much clearer without the second question.
But geez, Gordon and Zeuszen, those are some of the haughtiest, sarcastic, snide responses I've seen in some time. How about engaging instead of showing how superior you are?
Edit: dang it. Routerguy beat me to it.
Message edited by author 2007-11-08 19:37:29.
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11/08/2007 07:40:27 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by levyj413:
Smardaz, I think their point was simply that your post seems not to respond to what the author was discussing. I think he was asking, and then answered, the question "why put in the effort to take pictures that look uncontrived" as opposed to literally "why deceive instead of take pictures of reality?" In fact, I think the passage is poorly written and would be much clearer without the second question.
But geez, Gordon and Zeuszen, those are some of the haughtiest, sarcastic, snide responses I've seen in some time. How about engaging instead of showing how superior you are?
Edit: dang it. Routerguy beat me to it. |
its all good i should just remove myself from this conversation, because in the mood i'm in today if i keep at it i'll be in the doghouse with leroy |
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11/08/2007 08:04:15 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by levyj413:
But geez, Gordon and Zeuszen, those are some of the haughtiest, sarcastic, snide responses I've seen in some time. How about engaging instead of showing how superior you are? |
My response said 'I think you misread it' What's haughty, sarcastic and snide about that ? His response took the complete opposite view to what was said in the original quote. |
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11/08/2007 08:57:35 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by levyj413:
...But geez, Gordon and Zeuszen, those are some of the haughtiest, sarcastic, snide responses I've seen in some time. How about engaging instead of showing how superior you are?... |
The quote is quite articulate by itself. As it is, I don't think I can contribute any more clarity by expanding on it.
Encouraging a poster to re-read and reconsider his initial perception of it, and to do this as kindly as I did (talking in the first person singular) is hardly deserving of the attributes you have chosen.
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11/08/2007 09:13:58 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by Gordon:
Robert Adams, on Beauty in Photography:
"Why do most great pictures look uncontrived? Why do photographers bother with the deception, especially since it so often requires the hardest work of all? The answer is, I think, that the deception is necessary if the goal of art is to be reached: only pictures that look as if they had been easily made can convincingly suggest that Beauty is commonplace." |
If that's the case most ribbon winning shots fail this standard.
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11/08/2007 09:22:27 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by Gordon:
Robert Adams, on Beauty in Photography:
"Why do most great pictures look uncontrived? Why do photographers bother with the deception, especially since it so often requires the hardest work of all? The answer is, I think, that the deception is necessary if the goal of art is to be reached: only pictures that look as if they had been easily made can convincingly suggest that Beauty is commonplace." |
'Art' is the simple key. I don't like the term 'deception' either in this instance. I like to think of it as injection of 'self' into the final product.
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11/08/2007 09:26:50 PM · #16 |
Danish philosopher/mathematician Piet Hein:
"There is one art,
no more, no less:
to do all things
with artlessness."
R.
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11/08/2007 09:30:06 PM · #17 |
The reason he uses the word deception is to draw attention to the fact that most artifice in art is directed towards concealing the artifice. It's something we accept as a matter of course; the word 'deception' challenges that.
If you think about it, a lot of industrial design, particularly around the industrial revolution celebrated artifice. It's a question of whether you celebrate the rivets and the gears, or hide them. In the case of most photography, I think hiding them is the way to go, but there's an interesting discussion to be had here. |
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11/08/2007 09:50:49 PM · #18 |
On a another note: Art is deception. We never photograph how we actually saw it. Even if we do our own perceptions skew what we include/exclude in the shot.
Take for instance, a picture of the Statue of Liberty. We've all seen a lot of shots of it. It wasn't until I saw it in person did I realize how big it actually is (movies make it look like its thousands of feet tall) and how many bloody tourists are surrounding it. Without the tourists there is no sense of scale and we also don't get a feeling for its environment. Most of the time however, the photographer doesn't want the tourists in the shot.
Again the question is: how do you make the deception look like it was easy rather than a lot of work? We have different tools at our disposal. Simply framing a shot differently is one. Aperture and exposure is another. In poor light you can make someone ghostly or even disappear in a shot. A wide aperture can blur out things we don't want revealed.
I guess its almost like magic. Misdirection, smoke and mirrors and we can suddenly make a mountain lake appear in a soup bowl.
And that's not even counting post-processing...
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